The New CBA - What's In It and Explanations

[DominicT]

Just some of the details of the new CBA

We already know cap numbers and such, so thought I’d add some of the finer details. Will add as more info comes in

Performance bonus cushion of 7.5% will remain but it will no longer be counted to help clubs get to the floor or the leagues minimum salary. In other words, teams must be at the floor not counting bonuses and a player’s salary must be at the league minimum not counting bonuses. This does not include signing bonuses.

Performances bonuses remain the same as in previous CBA.

LTIR remains the same.

All 14 non-playoff teams have a chance at the first overall pick (odds still to be determined). For every first overall pick any of those teams had in the previous three years, they will lose a ball in the lottery. Call this the Edmonton Rule.

The league agreed to immediately input $2 million into the retired player’s emergency assistance program and will replenish it when needed. The fund will be administered by both the NHL and NHLPA.

Teams cannot walk away from salary arbitration if the awarded contract is for less than $3.5 million per season. Under previous CBA, teams could walk away from any arbitration award.

Teams are no longer protected from offer sheets to their RFA’s if they file for salary arbitration. The previous CBA didn’t allow for offer sheets to players that were taken to/or filed for salary arbitration. Best example I could come up with was two seasons ago when Shea Weber was taken to arbitration (and awarded $7 million). Teams could not give an offer sheet to Weber because Nashville had filed for arbitration. Now they can. I guess we can call this the Weber rule.

No change in the number of players you can take to arbitration in a season (two) and a player can only be taken to arbitration once in his career.

Players get a bigger share of playoff revenue compared to the last CBA.
Waiver period is now 24 hours and is now 7 days a week. Previous CBA was 48 hours and had to be done Monday to Friday (5:00 pm EST was the deadline). A player can now be sent down to AHL on a Saturday and if he has to clear waivers, can be claimed on a Sunday.

Teams cannot buyout players earning less than $2.5 million per season if they were not on the teams reserve list prior to trade deadline – which has yet to be determined for this season. This is not the compliance buyout but regular buyouts. Anyone can be bought out under the compliance buyout except players on LTIR (Savard, Pronger).

Cap recapture applies to players on deals longer than 6 years and are front loaded. This is a very complicated issue and requires a thread of its own to explain. Basically, if a player retires before his contract expires, his actually salary paid up until he retires minus his total cap hit up until then divided by the number of years remaining on that players contract will be the teams cap hit for how many years were remaining on that contract. Basically, it charges the team for the cap hit that was saved by front loading it for the time that he played. However, it gets real complicated if that player is traded. For the sake of an easy explanation, let’s assume that at season’s end the Bruins acquired Ilya Kovalchuk in a trade. Kovi would have played 3 years with New Jersey earning actual dollars of $23 million. His cap accumulated cap hit in that time was $20, million. Now let’s say he retired with 4 years remaining on his deal. The Bruins would have paid him real dollars amounting to $67 million and an accumulated cap of $53,333,336. Upon his retirement the Devils would be charged a cap hit of $23 million (real dollars) minus $20 million (accumulated cap hit) = $3 million divided by 4 (years remaining) = $750,000 for 4 years. The Bruins on the other hand would be charged $67 million (real dollars) minus $53,333,336 = $13,666,664 divided by 4 (years remaining = $3,416,666 per year for 4 years.

Wade Redden rule: a player with a one way contract earning $375,000 per year above the league minimum and playing in the AHL will have the entire cap less $100,000 count against the teams cap. This does not include players on a conditioning stint.

League’s minimum salary remains the same and goes to $650,000 by 2017 and ends at $750,000 in year 10 of the CBA.

Compliance buyouts will count towards players share of HRR but NOT against the teams cap. In other words, any player bought out as a compliance buyout, the buyout amount (not his salary) will count as a player’s share of HRR but the team is totally clear of it in terms of the cap hit.

Teams can retain cap hits from trades for a maximum of three contracts at any one time as long as it’s not more than 50% of the cap hit and is not more than 15% of the teams total cap limit. May sound complicated but will require strict bookkeeping to keep track of.

Teams can still pay a salary to drafted junior players playing in the CHL to a maximum of $20,000 per year if negotiated in their SPC and does not count towards the teams cap or the player’s share of HRR.

Revenue sharing is set at $200 million with a $60 million growth fund to be managed equally by the NHL and the NHLPA. That $60 million is based on a percentage of revenue growth from year to year and is not accumulated from year to year meaning if it goes to $260 million in one year, the next year reverts back to $200 million with another opportunity to increase by $60 million and not $260 million as the minimum.
The NHL and the NHLPA agree to keep the existing independent auditors and accountants.

League discipline will be headed by Brendan Shanahan. First appeal is to Gary Bettman and any appeal for suspensions of more than 6 games goes to an independent arbitrator.

Still some things to be negotiated and will become amendments to the CBA such as age eligibility of CHL player’s for the AHL and emergency call up to the NHL (ongoing negotiations with CHL), international hockey (not just Olympics but bringing back the World Cup – will require ongoing negotiations with IIHF, Hockey Canada and USA Hockey).

Over the last few days, I’ve posted most of these throughout other threads and if mods feel the need to merge, by all means do so. Just thought one stop shopping will make it easier for everyone. As any new info becomes available, I will try and add it here.

Some of these are complicated, especially trading of cap space (more like retaining cap then trading it) and I’m sure there is going to be questions. If you have any questions for me, I will do my best to answer them or get answers, but you’ll have to be patient. Someone else may have an answer for you as well.

Scrambled brains? You should see mine !!

Click to read more...

 

[ODAAT]

Just some of the details of the new CBA

We already know cap numbers and such, so thought I’d add some of the finer details. Will add as more info comes in

Performance bonus cushion of 7.5% will remain but it will no longer be counted to help clubs get to the floor or the leagues minimum salary. In other words, teams must be at the floor not counting bonuses and a player’s salary must be at the league minimum not counting bonuses. This does not include signing bonuses.

Performances bonuses remain the same as in previous CBA.

LTIR remains the same.

All 14 non-playoff teams have a chance at the first overall pick (odds still to be determined). For every first overall pick any of those teams had in the previous three years, they will lose a ball in the lottery. Call this the Edmonton Rule.

The league agreed to immediately input $2 million into the retired player’s emergency assistance program and will replenish it when needed. The fund will be administered by both the NHL and NHLPA.

Teams cannot walk away from salary arbitration if the awarded contract is for less than $3.5 million per season. Under previous CBA, teams could walk away from any arbitration award.

Teams are no longer protected from offer sheets to their RFA’s if they file for salary arbitration. The previous CBA didn’t allow for offer sheets to players that were taken to/or filed for salary arbitration. Best example I could come up with was two seasons ago when Shea Weber was taken to arbitration (and awarded $7 million). Teams could not give an offer sheet to Weber because Nashville had filed for arbitration. Now they can. I guess we can call this the Weber rule.

No change in the number of players you can take to arbitration in a season (two) and a player can only be taken to arbitration once in his career.

Players get a bigger share of playoff revenue compared to the last CBA.
Waiver period is now 24 hours and is now 7 days a week. Previous CBA was 48 hours and had to be done Monday to Friday (5:00 pm EST was the deadline). A player can now be sent down to AHL on a Saturday and if he has to clear waivers, can be claimed on a Sunday.

Teams cannot buyout players earning less than $2.5 million per season if they were not on the teams reserve list prior to trade deadline – which has yet to be determined for this season. This is not the compliance buyout but regular buyouts. Anyone can be bought out under the compliance buyout except players on LTIR (Savard, Pronger).

Cap recapture applies to players on deals longer than 6 years and are front loaded. This is a very complicated issue and requires a thread of its own to explain. Basically, if a player retires before his contract expires, his actually salary paid up until he retires minus his total cap hit up until then divided by the number of years remaining on that players contract will be the teams cap hit for how many years were remaining on that contract. Basically, it charges the team for the cap hit that was saved by front loading it for the time that he played. However, it gets real complicated if that player is traded. For the sake of an easy explanation, let’s assume that at season’s end the Bruins acquired Ilya Kovalchuk in a trade. Kovi would have played 3 years with New Jersey earning actual dollars of $23 million. His cap accumulated cap hit in that time was $20, million. Now let’s say he retired with 4 years remaining on his deal. The Bruins would have paid him real dollars amounting to $67 million and an accumulated cap of $53,333,336. Upon his retirement the Devils would be charged a cap hit of $23 million (real dollars) minus $20 million (accumulated cap hit) = $3 million divided by 4 (years remaining) = $750,000 for 4 years. The Bruins on the other hand would be charged $67 million (real dollars) minus $53,333,336 = $13,666,664 divided by 4 (years remaining = $3,416,666 per year for 4 years.

Wade Redden rule: a player with a one way contract earning $375,000 per year above the league minimum and playing in the AHL will have the entire cap less $100,000 count against the teams cap. This does not include players on a conditioning stint.

League’s minimum salary remains the same and goes to $650,000 by 2017 and ends at $750,000 in year 10 of the CBA.

Compliance buyouts will count towards players share of HRR but NOT against the teams cap. In other words, any player bought out as a compliance buyout, the buyout amount (not his salary) will count as a player’s share of HRR but the team is totally clear of it in terms of the cap hit.

Teams can retain cap hits from trades for a maximum of three contracts at any one time as long as it’s not more than 50% of the cap hit and is not more than 15% of the teams total cap limit. May sound complicated but will require strict bookkeeping to keep track of.

Teams can still pay a salary to drafted junior players playing in the CHL to a maximum of $20,000 per year if negotiated in their SPC and does not count towards the teams cap or the player’s share of HRR.

Revenue sharing is set at $200 million with a $60 million growth fund to be managed equally by the NHL and the NHLPA. That $60 million is based on a percentage of revenue growth from year to year and is not accumulated from year to year meaning if it goes to $260 million in one year, the next year reverts back to $200 million with another opportunity to increase by $60 million and not $260 million as the minimum.
The NHL and the NHLPA agree to keep the existing independent auditors and accountants.

League discipline will be headed by Brendan Shanahan. First appeal is to Gary Bettman and any appeal for suspensions of more than 6 games goes to an independent arbitrator.

Still some things to be negotiated and will become amendments to the CBA such as age eligibility of CHL player’s for the AHL and emergency call up to the NHL (ongoing negotiations with CHL), international hockey (not just Olympics but bringing back the World Cup – will require ongoing negotiations with IIHF, Hockey Canada and USA Hockey).

Over the last few days, I’ve posted most of these throughout other threads and if mods feel the need to merge, by all means do so. Just thought one stop shopping will make it easier for everyone. As any new info becomes available, I will try and add it here.

Some of these are complicated, especially trading of cap space (more like retaining cap then trading it) and I’m sure there is going to be questions. If you have any questions for me, I will do my best to answer them or get answers, but you’ll have to be patient. Someone else may have an answer for you as well.

Scrambled brains? You should see mine !!

Great stuff, thx Dom, mindboggling for me in parts.

Shocked that Wade Redden had so much of an impact on this game that he now has a rule created with his name written all over it

OT- Any chance your heading this way for the Prospect Game?? Lemme know

Just beginning an Industrial Relations course at Uni with a focus on Collective Bargaining, gonna use this as a source

 

[Shadowthrone]

Well, thank you, this comes in handy.

Wanted to look this stuff up today anyway

 

[DaveFromNB]

Is there any change to the 35+ contracts for buyouts and retirements and counting against the cap, or is this covered in the recapture? For example, Bruins have a cap hit for Thomas even if he retires under the old CBA, does this change under the new?

 

[DominicT]

Is there any change to the 35+ contracts for buyouts and retirements and counting against the cap? For example, Bruins have a cap hit for Thomas even if he retires under the old CBA, does this change under the new?

None that I am aware of yet. As for Thomas, it was under the old CBA so it will be grandfathered in if there are any changes. His cap hit sticks for this season.

 

[LouJersey]

Please sticky this for the next 8 years.

Dom, you never cease to amaze me. Bravo !

 

[TD Charlie]

I officially don't understand anything other than the Redden rule, but I'm ok with being ignorant in this case. Maybe I'll be able to enjoy the product rather than worry about the business side

 

[Pie O My]

Please sticky this for the next 8 years.

Dom, you never cease to amaze me. Bravo !

He is the Will McDonough of this site.

(Neither of you guys are from around here so you'll just have to trust me that I gave OOG a huge compliment)

 

[Kovi]

Just some of the details of the new CBA

We already know cap numbers and such, so thought I’d add some of the finer details. Will add as more info comes in

Performance bonus cushion of 7.5% will remain but it will no longer be counted to help clubs get to the floor or the leagues minimum salary. In other words, teams must be at the floor not counting bonuses and a player’s salary must be at the league minimum not counting bonuses. This does not include signing bonuses.

Performances bonuses remain the same as in previous CBA.

LTIR remains the same.

All 14 non-playoff teams have a chance at the first overall pick (odds still to be determined). For every first overall pick any of those teams had in the previous three years, they will lose a ball in the lottery. Call this the Edmonton Rule.

The league agreed to immediately input $2 million into the retired player’s emergency assistance program and will replenish it when needed. The fund will be administered by both the NHL and NHLPA.

Teams cannot walk away from salary arbitration if the awarded contract is for less than $3.5 million per season. Under previous CBA, teams could walk away from any arbitration award.

Teams are no longer protected from offer sheets to their RFA’s if they file for salary arbitration. The previous CBA didn’t allow for offer sheets to players that were taken to/or filed for salary arbitration. Best example I could come up with was two seasons ago when Shea Weber was taken to arbitration (and awarded $7 million). Teams could not give an offer sheet to Weber because Nashville had filed for arbitration. Now they can. I guess we can call this the Weber rule.

No change in the number of players you can take to arbitration in a season (two) and a player can only be taken to arbitration once in his career.

Players get a bigger share of playoff revenue compared to the last CBA.
Waiver period is now 24 hours and is now 7 days a week. Previous CBA was 48 hours and had to be done Monday to Friday (5:00 pm EST was the deadline). A player can now be sent down to AHL on a Saturday and if he has to clear waivers, can be claimed on a Sunday.

Teams cannot buyout players earning less than $2.5 million per season if they were not on the teams reserve list prior to trade deadline – which has yet to be determined for this season. This is not the compliance buyout but regular buyouts. Anyone can be bought out under the compliance buyout except players on LTIR (Savard, Pronger).

Cap recapture applies to players on deals longer than 6 years and are front loaded. This is a very complicated issue and requires a thread of its own to explain. Basically, if a player retires before his contract expires, his actually salary paid up until he retires minus his total cap hit up until then divided by the number of years remaining on that players contract will be the teams cap hit for how many years were remaining on that contract. Basically, it charges the team for the cap hit that was saved by front loading it for the time that he played. However, it gets real complicated if that player is traded. For the sake of an easy explanation, let’s assume that at season’s end the Bruins acquired Ilya Kovalchuk in a trade. Kovi would have played 3 years with New Jersey earning actual dollars of $23 million. His cap accumulated cap hit in that time was $20, million. Now let’s say he retired with 4 years remaining on his deal. The Bruins would have paid him real dollars amounting to $67 million and an accumulated cap of $53,333,336. Upon his retirement the Devils would be charged a cap hit of $23 million (real dollars) minus $20 million (accumulated cap hit) = $3 million divided by 4 (years remaining) = $750,000 for 4 years. The Bruins on the other hand would be charged $67 million (real dollars) minus $53,333,336 = $13,666,664 divided by 4 (years remaining = $3,416,666 per year for 4 years.

Wade Redden rule: a player with a one way contract earning $375,000 per year above the league minimum and playing in the AHL will have the entire cap less $100,000 count against the teams cap. This does not include players on a conditioning stint.

League’s minimum salary remains the same and goes to $650,000 by 2017 and ends at $750,000 in year 10 of the CBA.

Compliance buyouts will count towards players share of HRR but NOT against the teams cap. In other words, any player bought out as a compliance buyout, the buyout amount (not his salary) will count as a player’s share of HRR but the team is totally clear of it in terms of the cap hit.

Teams can retain cap hits from trades for a maximum of three contracts at any one time as long as it’s not more than 50% of the cap hit and is not more than 15% of the teams total cap limit. May sound complicated but will require strict bookkeeping to keep track of.

Teams can still pay a salary to drafted junior players playing in the CHL to a maximum of $20,000 per year if negotiated in their SPC and does not count towards the teams cap or the player’s share of HRR.

Revenue sharing is set at $200 million with a $60 million growth fund to be managed equally by the NHL and the NHLPA. That $60 million is based on a percentage of revenue growth from year to year and is not accumulated from year to year meaning if it goes to $260 million in one year, the next year reverts back to $200 million with another opportunity to increase by $60 million and not $260 million as the minimum.
The NHL and the NHLPA agree to keep the existing independent auditors and accountants.

League discipline will be headed by Brendan Shanahan. First appeal is to Gary Bettman and any appeal for suspensions of more than 6 games goes to an independent arbitrator.

Still some things to be negotiated and will become amendments to the CBA such as age eligibility of CHL player’s for the AHL and emergency call up to the NHL (ongoing negotiations with CHL), international hockey (not just Olympics but bringing back the World Cup – will require ongoing negotiations with IIHF, Hockey Canada and USA Hockey).

Over the last few days, I’ve posted most of these throughout other threads and if mods feel the need to merge, by all means do so. Just thought one stop shopping will make it easier for everyone. As any new info becomes available, I will try and add it here.

Some of these are complicated, especially trading of cap space (more like retaining cap then trading it) and I’m sure there is going to be questions. If you have any questions for me, I will do my best to answer them or get answers, but you’ll have to be patient. Someone else may have an answer for you as well.

Scrambled brains? You should see mine !!

I cant imagine 1) having to understand all that and 2) having to translate it to schmucks like us.

thanks for the primer.

 

[Kaoz*]

God love you Dom. God love you. More then a few big changes.

The Edmonton rule, the Toronto rule and the Weber rule are fairly substantial and being able to trade partial cap hits should make for some confusion when discussing trades. Toronto fans are invading the trade forum no doubt as we speak.

Really really interested to see if there are any changes to the CHL age eligibility for the AHL. Could have its positives and negatives if it's lowered.

 

[DominicT]

God love you Dom. God love you. More then a few big changes.

The Edmonton rule, the Toronto rule and the Weber rule are fairly substantial and being able to trade partial cap hits should make for some confusion when discussing trades. Toronto fans are invading the trade forum no doubt as we speak.

Really really interested to see if there are any changes to the CHL age eligibility for the AHL. Could have its positives and negatives if it's lowered.

I may have something on that later today, if Dave Branch will actually give out any info. The league is meeting today about possibly moving the trade deadline dates to later in the month to help accommodate teams that "may" be losing players to the NHL.

"Other" league issues are also on the table which could include an agreement with the NHL on the matter. They have to talk at some point because it has to be in the CBA.

 

[Whiskey Sam]

Great to have all this in one place. Nice work!

 

[BlackNgold 84]

For this year.. and i believe i've already asked this. But is the trade deadline still at the end of feb or early march or are they not gonna have one this year? I haven't seen anything written about it. Figured i'd ask the first stupid question of the thread

 

[Pie O My]

Was there any mention of expansion in the fine print OOG?

 

[DominicT]

For this year.. and i believe i've already asked this. But is the trade deadline still at the end of feb or early march or are they not gonna have one this year? I haven't seen anything written about it. Figured i'd ask the first stupid question of the thread

No decision on the date as of yet Kevin but there most certainly be a trade deadline. Will probably decide once schedule is released. You know TSN will have to plan their 8 hour show

 

[BlackNgold 84]

No decision on the date as of yet Kevin but there most certainly be a trade deadline. Will probably decide once schedule is released. You know TSN will have to plan their 8 hour show

Whos kevin by the way? haha

 

[Pie O My]

Whos kevin by the way? haha

if OOG says your Kevin, then you're Kevin dammit!

 

[DominicT]

Was there any mention of expansion in the fine print OOG?

Sort of. The only thing that I am aware of for sure about expansion is that the NHLPA will be represented on the expansion committee. But nothing to do about where or a timetable.

Must also say that the CBA is still being put together. There is nothing in print as of yet. You must remember that there are still items to be negotiated that will be added as amendments to the CBA, so expansion and re-alignment could come later.

 

[DominicT]

Whos kevin by the way? haha

Haha. Was texting with Kevin at same time. Apologies. Must stick to one thing at a time.

 

[BlackNgold 84]

if OOG says your Kevin, then you're Kevin dammit!

YA thats the first name someones called me a name that didn't involve swears or insults.

 

[BlackNgold 84]

Haha. Was texting with Kevin at same time. Apologies. Must stick to one thing at a time.

Hey you've went over all this cba stuff for about 4 months.. You can call me anything ya want haha. Thanks for answering my question.

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

...

Seems to me that the trading of cap space (which it only kind of is) is more aimed at making the trade deadline a more interesting event.

THIS system seems a lot less versatile than how it was worded to the press initially.

Not that I'm complaining (mind you). It's still better than what we had previously, even if it will make capgeek tear its hair out.

 

[Pie O My]

...

Seems to me that the trading of cap space (which it only kind of is) is more aimed at making the trade deadline a more interesting event.

THIS system seems a lot less versatile than how it was worded to the press initially.

Not that I'm complaining (mind you). It's still better than what we had previously, even if it will make capgeek tear its hair out.

so how does this work in theory?

If team A has a forward with a million dollar cap hit, and for whatever reason wants Team B's d-man with a 750k cap hit, how could that scenario potentially break down under the new agreement?

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

so how does this work in theory?

If team A has a forward with a million dollar cap hit, and for whatever reason wants Team B's d-man with a 750k cap hit, how could that scenario potentially break down under the new agreement?

From how I understand it:

If Team A wants a player from Team B, but doesn't have the cap space to accommodate the move, Team B can offer to retain a portion of that player's cap hit.

There are restrictions, of course... But that seems like the easiest breakdown I can communicate.

 

[Grzkid]

Thanks OOG!!